Quote:
Originally Posted by Mama2six
Nancy, I finally found this thread. 
This is probably not at all uncommon. My local pet shop owner that I work with said that whenever he got hamsters from any breeder besides me and one other breeder (who closed a couple years back), they get wet tail.
I hate to think of what commercially raised hamsters must go through. The only thing I can figure is it is from the stress of being raised with no socialization, and then suddenly carted around in containers and placed in tanks for all to look at. |
It is far worse then what you stated. Syrians are kept in very small chew proof bins which allows the bottle and block food to sit outside the cage so the hamsters can't chew the bottle. They simply dump a male in a cage with 2 to sometimes 4 females for 4-8 days. Often the male never comes out as the females kill him. The 2-4 females are then checked and if pregnant are moved to another cage while those not pregnant are placed with another male until pregnant. The pregnant ones are then placed in a single cage and birth their litter. IF they raise the litter well They become a production machine having litter after litter.
Pups are taken away from their Mothers at 3 weeks old and placed in a shipping crate. JUST 4 days after opening their eyes they are in a strange box with many other pups. Many times there are different age pups and the youngest are really in for a fight for their life. The crates are shipped to other distribution companies where they are grabbed by big hands and sexed and re-crated by gender then are shipped all over the country to different pet stores.
It is no wonder so many commercial pups are sick and untame as they are fed different foods at each stop, as well as different water sources too. In over crowded boxes there is fighting and injuries. The box gets very dirty during shipping, and often the distributors don't even bother to clean the shipping crates and just move them on to stores.
Most of the time the only human touch the pups have had is a very harsh and cruel pick up and sexed then dropped into the crate. So a young pup has the warmth and loving care of it's Mother then this big scary hand grabs them from above and that is the last time they have a Mothers care. Then they are in a big dark box until in bright daylight they are again grabbed by a big hand and turned over and sexed and then it's back in a dark box. Then they again have bright light upon them when they arrive at the pet store where once again a big scary human hand grabs them and places them in a BRIGHT glass tank with several others that were in the box with them and have their sleep and rest disturbed all day long while humans keep waking them up and not allowing them to get any rest.
How do I know all this? Easy for 2 years I worked in the small animal section of a small independent Pet store who bought their hamsters from one of the largest commercial rodent company in the USA. I was the unlucky one who had to open those boxes and count how many were dead or missing in the filthy dirty stinky box. I was that big scary hand that picked up each scared and terrified pup to be sure they were all the gender purchased. I was the one who had to remove the badly maimed pups and try to heal them. I was the one to have to treat the pups with wet tail, and I was the one who often came home with a pup who was so badly hurt that it couldn't be sold.
I had many one eyed or half eared hamsters. Many 3 legged ones too. I also had many give birth at my house as well. Most eventually did learn to trust me and became quite tame. But those memories of what a Commercially raised Hamster pup was like is why I often offer pet pups to my friends Store.
It gives pet buyers the opportunity to buy a healthy tame and well adjusted hamster pup and enjoy ownership of a pet hamster. It also puts a very small dent in the sales of a distributor which in turn puts a small dent in the numbers produced by a commercial breeding farm. Can one small Hobby breeder make a difference? The answer is and astounding YES. My friend has had people told to go to them for a hamster because they are hand tamed. People who went to the two big chain stores find out about their Mom and Pop store and go buy from them and word does get around rather quickly on what store has the better Hamsters. She has waiting list of customers who would rather wait for a tame pup from her then go to the big chain store and buy a pup right away. That makes all my hard work in raising hamsters all worth it in my eyes.
Re: Hamster Photo of the Month of March
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